Hats off to our amazing team who put together the collection of vintage hats now on display at the Old School History Museum, designed the windows, and were hat models for this blog! Beautiful “dress-up” hats now fill the Drygoods store windows and gardening hats are featured in the 5 & 10 window. It’s an exhibit that will make you want to go shopping!
The inspiration for featuring vintage hats came when my cousin Erin called to say that she was giving me four hats that had belonged to her grandmother, my Aunt Theresa - a woman I loved dearly. Theresa was an elegant woman who wore the latest fashions but also planted and harvested a large vegetable garden every year! Each time I touch one of her hats, sweet memories pull me back to my childhood.
When I was growing up, wearing hats was appreciated and encouraged. Certainly no woman I knew would show up at church on Easter Sunday without a new bonnet or a refurbished one! Each year, a few weeks before Easter, my mother, sister, and I would drive from the suburbs into downtown Atlanta and shop for our Easter apparel. Our favorite stores were Davison’s, Rich’s, Muse’s, and Regenstein’s for dresses and hats, and Thompson, Boland, Lee for shoes. Since it was our annual girls’ spring fling, Mama would take us out to lunch - often to the Frances Virginia Tea Room or Rich’s Magnolia Room. Legendary food…then back to shopping!
Once home, we would model our new hats for my dad, a man who rarely went anywhere without his own hat. He wore Wormser hats and was a seasonal customer at the Wormser Hat Shop in Atlanta’s Five Points. He knew the staff, and they frequently called him when new hats came in. Dad always wore his hats cocked slightly at an angle, giving him what I considered a look of confidence. Years later, Frank Sinatra made famous the phrase “Cock your hat…angles have attitude!” My dad’s cocked hats, however, were from long-time habit, not attitude!
Sadly, most people today think of hats as old-fashioned, out of style, or just too much trouble. And yet…there’s just something about a hat!
So we invite you to come visit the Old School History Museum, see our hats, and do some memory walking of your own!
Sandra Rosseter serves as the Director of the Old School History Museum and a museum docent. Prior to retirement, she spent 33 years as a teacher and administrator in both high school and college education. She and her husband Tom live in Eatonton’s Historic District.